Camping season has begun!!

Our maiden camping voyage this summer took us to Neskowin on the Oregon coast. Tent camping on the coast is quite the gamble in Oregon. The 2 weeks prior to us going it was upper 70s on the beach so we were hopeful. I packed our bags full of faith that the weatherman was telling the truth that we would still see temperatures hovering around 70. Well....our 1st day of camping found us at the outlet mall buying more layers in an attempt to keep warm at night! Ainsley loves being outside. Ainsley H.A.T.E.S. being cold when she sleeps. Those 4 nights camping were reminiscent of our nights as we were sorting through the milk protein allergy. Lots of crying. Lots of nursing. Lots of coffee the next day for momma. In the end, the girls really enjoyed camping and we enjoyed spending some quality time with Grandma and Poppa.

True Oregonians right here. It doesn't matter if the wind is blowing and you have 3 layers of clothes on, all the girls were wading in!

Love them!!!This is the reason I tried to keep my complaining about a lack of sleep to myself. Look at how much they are enjoying this time together as a family!!!

Moments like this just melt my heart. This is my life...OUR life...and its perfect!

Sisters

Sand baby

Ainsley loved to be able to just walk around and explore the beach.

Beautiful day at Pacific City

Our beautiful Ella!!

When you have 3 busy girls who are full of personality and their own ideas, this is what you sometimes get! I had envisioned a sweet picture of our 3 girls, instead I came home with all 3 girls in a single shot!!

Pacific City has a huge sand dune just past where all the dories are launched into the ocean. Ella had been told by a little boy at the campground that he climbed all the way to the top of the dune. Well for Ella that meant challenge on!! I'm so proud of them that they both made it all the way to the top. Neal carried Aubrey for a short distance, but she hiked herself all the way to the top. They loved running back down!

Ella roasted her own marshmallow for the 1st time this year! Aubrey and I were working on hers.

Yum!!

Thanks to Trader Joe's dairy free chocolate, Ainsley was able to enjoy her 1st s'more. She loved it...until the end. She wanted to be all done but then the marshmallow stuck to her hands!! hehehe

The girls loved spending some quality time with grandma and Poppa around the campfire. Ella and Poppa were having a serious conversation =)

Looking back at the pictures, we really did have a good trip. Eventually I'll catch up on sleep ;-)
I think Ainsley just wants to make sure she stays the baby of the family!! She definitely is a little princess!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We love our 4th of July traditions! We started watching the Hillsboro Parade with the Gateley's back when Ella and Ethan were not even 2 years old....now we have 6 kids between the 2 families 5 years later.                                        Ainsley, Grant, Micah, Ella, Ethan and Aubrey

 

Ainsley wasn't too sure what was going on with the parade and candy stuff. Once she finally realized what the people were throwing at us, she tried as hard as she could to get into that candy!

Ella and Aubrey love the parade candy!!

Funny story behind this picture. A couple of floats had squirt guns on them and they would spray the crowd. Well as you can see by Aubrey's coat, it wasn't a super hot morning. Suddenly I look over to see Micah crouching behind Aubrey and Ethan is running for the hills. Way down the road I notice that another float with squirt guns is heading down the road. The boys won't be caught wet twice!!! The closer the float got, the farther behind Aubrey that Micah crouched =)

 

 

 

 

After the parade, I headed off to work for a few hours. It was a great way to fulfill some holiday hours at work plus you can't do fireworks until dark anyways =) While I was working, Neal and the girls went to BBQ at Uncle Ryan and Auntie Allie's.

Logan wasn't so sure about the fireworks at first...but it didn't take long for her to warm up!!

Quin and Ella. These 2 have such a special bond!

Auntie Allie and Ainsley watching fireworks together.

Ainsley's 1st sparkler. She L.O.V.E.D. it!!

By loved it I mean, trying to grab the burning end repeatedly LOVED it!! Poor Auntie Allie didn't have enough hands to keep the baby safe while from the burning stick she was trying to grab!

Our one mishap for the evening involved Aubrey Grace. Notice her right foot....and its lack of a blue flip flop. One of the fireworks was a little bit louder than anticipated and she jump...right out of her shoe. The shoe literally broke when she jumped!! We are so grateful that this mishap didn't require any medical attention ;-)

Fire on a stick= pure delight for Ella!

Ella LOVES 4th of July. She had been counting down all week to make sure she didn't miss July 4th ;-)

Everyone sparklers in!

Aubrey enjoys watching fireworks, but from a safe distance. I love the progression of faces and distance!!

Blog catch-up has officially begun. Its August 6th and I finally posted about July 4th. Here's to hoping that I can get completely caught up before its time for back to school pictures. Aahhh....how has summer gone so fast?!?!?!

Instalife---July edition

Sunshine, fountains, fresh coconut milk= perfect Saturday at the farmers market!!!

Ainsley is my constant reminder from God to sit down, read a book, enjoy the snuggles and let the chores wait for another day. If at any point I forget this, she chases me around the house with her book, constantly beating me in the leg with up while repeating "up, peeezzz. PEEEZZZ. P.E.E.E.Z.Z.Z!"

Nothing says summer like corn on the cob <3 br="">

This blue-eyed baby was found eating sand during the 4th of July BBQ at Uncle Ryan and Auntie Allie's.

Natalie, Aubrey and Ella watching fireworks in the neighborhood at 10PM. I could not believe they were still going strong after a parade, BBQ, fireworks with cousins and then 45 minutes of fireworks with the neighbors.

1st s'more of the season! This is what camping is all about =) Ainsley liked sucking on the raw marshmellows!

{{{Beach baby}}}

Beautiful day at Pacific City. The wind kept us from staying longer but we had fun while we were there.

Tonight Ainsley got her 1st s'more! She finally understands why her sisters go so crazy over these.

Ella was my super-special-camp-nurse-helper tonight. She zipped the ziplock bags then organized and reorganized all the medicines to get the kids ready for church camp. A frosty in a waffle cone seemed like a much deserved reward!

Somehow July and all the fun we've had are gone before I could blink. I finally sat down to download pictures from the camera and 556 pictures later I'm done!! Whoaza!! I'll be back to fill in all the other moments...it just might take me a little while....

Instalife -- June edition

The girls loved spending some time with Grandma Bernice while we were in Riddle.

Summertime officially begins with the first Hood strawberries. Ainsley timidly tasted her first berry then dug into them by the fist-full!

One downside to our tree swing has been that it doesn't swing evenly. Insert broom- voila, swings straight and only looks slightly redneck/backwoods ;-)

These 2 can bicker back and forth with the best of them but then secondly later make my heart skip a beat when I see this!

Ainsley would like to thank the kind neighbor who was watering their lawn at 4PM. She  thoroughly loved playing in the water!

Indian Hills end-of-the-year carnival. Ainsley was mesmerized by the petting zoo area. Cousin Logan won a pinwheel and gave it to Aubrey....made her day!!

Our pantry has had no attention since we moved in. There wasn't a ton of order/rhyme nor reason to it. Insert Pinterest-- use laminate floor press and stick tiles over the wire shelves thus making it easier to stack items. During morning nap, I got the idea to tackle the pantry completely unprepared. I was amazed at how much "stuff" we had in that pantry....it just kept coming and I started running out of counter space then floor space and we have A LOT of counter space! Ut oh, I realized I had failed get my handy floor tiles and the nice shelving unit you see on the back of the door. So off to Home Depot quickly to get supplies before it was time to pick up Ella from school! Then my next dilemma...how in the world am I going to make lunch with no floor or counter room? Microwavable lunch it is!! The end result is so clean and organized. I never knew a pantry could give me so much pleasure ;-)

An apple a day keeps the baby cute!! While trying to put the pantry back together, Ainsley kept helping herself to apples...a bite out of this one, back into the box, bite out of that one. She doesn't have enough teeth to manage the skin which was frustrating to her. So I peeled the skin off, she climbed onto a chair and juiced the heck out of that apple and I was able to get things put away.

This is what childhood is all about. Ella and her friend/neighbor Natalie walking to school hand in hand for the last day of kindergarten. Moments like this were exactly what I had hoped for when we were looking for our home.

Yum....strawberry freezer jam, check.

Happy Fathers Day Daddy! (I realized in searching for this picture that we don't have any pictures of Daddy with all 3 of the girls...definitely something we need to fix)

Ella and Aubrey helping Daddy open his Father's Day gift!

Happy Father's day to my dad!! We love you <3 br="">

I mentioned in the last post how much Ainsley L.O.V.E.S. books and being read to. That is very sweet and I love reading to her, except when I'm trying to cook dinner or any of the other chores that can't be put off indefinitely. Aubrey really stepped in as a big helper one evening- she read to Ainsley and pushed her around in the "rocket." Mommy is so thankful for your help Aubrey!

Poor Grandpa!! We flew him and grandma out from Idaho to visit us. First their flight was delayed hours and ultimately cancelled--they arrived in Portland 5 hours later than expected. They come over to our house the next day and Grandpa ends up falling off our deck!!! He ended up getting the 1st stitches in his 86 years of life...9 in his head and 3 in his hand! Thankfully the excitement simmered down for the rest of their trip and their return flight was only delayed 1.5 hours =( So glad he was able to laugh about all the hiccups!

Stayed tuned for the July edition!